Bio

Dubbed "especially glorious... ethereal" by Whole Note, and "a highlight of the concert" by the Boston Musical Intelligencer, the music of Canadian composer Tawnie Olson has been performed by a wide range of ensembles and individual musicians, including the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gemini Duo, Duo Fiolûtröniq, Parthenia, the Wanmu Percussion Trio, the McGill, University of Calgary, and University of Toronto Percussion Ensembles, the Land's End Ensemble, the Canadian Chamber Choir, the Toronto Chamber Choir, the Guelph Chamber Choir, the Yale Camerata and Yale Pro Musica, bassoonists Nadina Mackie Jackson and Rachael Elliott, and harpsichordist Katelyn Clark. She has won awards from the SOCAN foundation and the Guelph Chamber Choir/Musica Viva, and is a two-time semifinalist in the Sorel Foundation competition.

Recent projects include Scel lem duib, for chamber chorus and harp, commissioned by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music for the Yale Camerata, Thorns, commissioned by John and Terry Hare for Parthenia and bass-baritone Dashon Burton, Le Tombeau d'Annelie De Man, a new work for harpsichord and digital audio commissioned by Katelyn Clark with assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts, Le Revenant, commissioned by Stacie Dunlop, Mille Regretz, commissioned by Duo Fiolûtröniq, and As Rain Hollows Stone, written at the request of the Wanmu Percussion Trio. In May 2010 a recording of her composition Chantez à l'Éternel was released on the Canadian Chamber Choir's debut album, "In Good Company," and in fall 2011 Rachael Elliott released a recording of À mon seul désir on the album "Polka the Elk."

Olson holds a doctorate in music composition from the University of Toronto, a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, an Artist Diploma from the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Calgary. In 2012-2013 she is visiting assistant professor of composition at the Hartt School of Music.